Peculiar Dreams

Chapter 4

A nurse walks back in as Joey and Emily are leaving. She smiles at Jaden and sets down the tray of food on the stand beside him. She hands him the medication. He quickly swallows the pills and leans back in the bed. He really didn't feel hungry at all. There was just way too much going on in his head. All he could think about was Chloe. Why was he the only one that saw her by the road? Was he really losing his mind or was there more to it? She had to be real, there was no other explanation. He immediately started feeling drowsy from the medication. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

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BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!   Jaden wakes up to the old familiar sound of his alarm going off. 

"Ugghh, morning already..." he groans as he rolls over to shut off the annoying alarm.  He winces in pain as he realizes how sore his ribs still are, along with the throbbing pain from the injury to his head.  It had been a week since the accident now, and he was released from the hospital two days ago.  He gently sits up in his bed, and rubs his eyes.  He stumbles over to the bathroom and opens the drawer to grab his pain medication.   He fills a cup with cold water and swallows the pills.  As he sets the cup down on the side of sink, it slips off the edge and splashes water all over him and the floor. 

"DAMN IT! REALLY?" he yells.  He squints and puts his hands on the sides of his head as a piercing pain runs throughout his skull. "Whoa, remind me not to yell like that again...  oh well, it is only water." He giggles to himself as the pain begins to subside.  "Thank god these pills work so quickly."

Jaden combs his thick brown hair and brushes his teeth, quickly finishing his morning routine.  As he gets dressed, he can't get his mind off of Chloe again, wondering why it had been a whole week and he hadn't had a single dream of her, no sign of her at all.  Everywhere he went, he hoped to catch a glimpse of her, every night before bed, he had her on his mind, hoping when he drifted off to sleep, she would be there in his dreams, waiting for him.  He missed how it felt when she touched him, when she wrapped her arms around him so tight, and how her soft warm lips felt pressed against his. 

 Suddenly he realized the time on the clock read 7:42, and he snapped back to reality.  "Oh my god, I gotta stop daydreaming like that!" he said as he rushed out the door.  He nearly squashed Peanut, his neighbor's cat as he leaped over the railing.  "Sorry, Peanut!" he yelled apologetically as the cat just stared at him awkwardly.  He waved at his other neighbor, Paul, who was outside washing his truck as he rushed by.   A few blocks later as he turned the corner that led to the university, he saw a couple of kids playing catch with a football.  "Man, I wish I had time to stop and play a little." he thought to himself.  Next door he saw his old English teacher, Mr. Carter, who had recently retired.  He was up on a ladder doing some sort of repairs to one of the 2nd floor windows.  He smiled and waved.  Then suddenly she caught his eye from across the street.  It was her, it was Chloe.  But this was different, something was wrong.  Instead of the beautiful smile she usually had, it was replaced by a look of total horror.  She was completely silent, just pointing across the street towards Mr. Carter.

"Go long!"  Jaden heard one of the kids yell.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw the other boy sprinting across the yard.  "Only five seconds left on the clock, and the Lions are down by four points." The boy yelled out as if he was announcing the game.  He dashed around like he was avoiding imaginary players trying to tackle him.  "four... three... he sees a receiver wide open running towards the end zone!  two... one..."  he cried out as he threw the ball as hard as he could.  The other boy ran as fast as he could, so focused on the ball in the air he didn't realize he had crossed over into Mr. Carter's yard.